Time lords prepare to kick leap seconds into the next millennium
2026-09-06 16:09General🔥 42.2 heat score
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The International Meterological Conference will vote next month on a proposal to continue using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) starting from May 20, 2027, allowing a time difference of one hour between UTC and UT1 based on Earth’s rotation. This proposal aims to address the risk of “negative leap seconds” that may occur due to 27 leap seconds introduced since 1972 due to changes in Earth’s rotation speed. Shemle, chief scientist at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, pointed out that existing digital systems assume that leap seconds only increase; removing one second could lead to serious disruptions in key infrastructure such as telecommunications, power grids, and satellite navigation. Given that there is about a 30% chance of introducing negative leap seconds by 2035, this proposal, based on the vote of multiple countries, is expected to eliminate the risk of adjustments in the coming years.
The International Metrology Conference will vote next month to propose that Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) be operated continuously starting from May 20, 2027, allowing a time difference of one hour between UTC and UT1 based on the Earth’s rotation. This move aims to address the risk of “negative leap seconds” that may occur due to 27 leap seconds introduced since 1972 due to changes in the Earth’s rotation speed. Shem, chief scientist at the UK National Physical Laboratory, pointed out that existing digital systems assume that leap seconds only increase; removing one second could lead to serious disruptions in key infrastructure such as telecommunications, power grids, and satellite navigation. Given that there is a 30% chance of introducing negative leap seconds by 2035, this proposal, based on the voting results of multiple countries, is expected to eliminate the risk of adjustments over the coming years.